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Chevy’s Avalanche is meant for recreation, which was obvious when I drove one to Table Rock Lake to join two other couples for a weekend.

With mountain bikes in back and the back seat folded into a cargo space, we had room for groceries, suitcases and a cooler. The Avalanche is targeted at the kind of folks whose vehicles, predominantely SUVs and minivans, crowded the parking lot of our lake resort. Active families want multipurpose vehicles that they can use for a weekend of boating, camping, or even hauling building supplies.

The Avalanche looks like a pickup truck, but its cabin and 130-inch wheelbase are from a Suburban. The idea is similar to the Ford Explorer Sport Trac and F-150 SuperCrew, but the Avalanche offers greater hauling versatility because it has a removable rear window and midgate between the cabin and bed, which is 5 feet, 3 inches long. The midgate stores neatly inside the cabin and creates an 8-foot-long cargo space. The rear window snaps out like a 1972 CorvetteÕs and stows on the midgate behind the back seat. A power window would be easier to use but one is not offered.

The removable rigid aluminum and plastic bed cover keeps the cargo area secure and dry, but taking it off is not the snap the manual describes it to be. After they’re off, the three panels either have to be stored inside a bag in the bed, which takes up room, or left at home. Neither is a very elegant solution.

Every available nook and cranny has been put to use. The space between the inner and outer bed walls of the pickup box has small storage boxes built in. These cubbies are accessed by a locking top door, and they have lights so you can see what’s inside.

The Avalanche has unique styling. It has a boxy, angular nose and large sections of gray plastic cladding on the lower body. The cladding not only gives the truck the look of a hiking boot, it also offers protection from rock chips. A roof buttress visually blends the cab into the bed and improves the structural integrity of the vehicle when the midgate is taken out. I’m not wild about the styling, but functionally, this is a very useful vehicle.

Prices start at $30,965 for two-wheel drive and $33,695 for four-wheel drive. A heavy-duty 2500 Series with the new 8.1-liter, 340-horsepower Vortec V-8 will also be offered this fall, as will a slick North Face edition that has white-faced gauges and dark-green leather seats. A wide range of equipment packages and options, such as GM’s OnStar GPS-based communications system, is offered so the Avalanche can be dressed up or down as much as you want.

A 285-horsepower, 5.3-liter V-8 with automatic transmission sits under the hood. Because the Avalanche weighs 5,876 pounds, there were times when I wished for more power as we climbed over steep Ozark hills. The Autotrac four-wheel-drive system on the test vehicle had four modes: two-wheel drive, automatic four-wheel drive, four-wheel high or four-wheel low. The automatic setting is ver y useful because it only transfers drive to the front wheels when slippage occurs. We prowled down some narrow, rutted mountain lanes and never used four-wheel drive. The Avalanche’s width and turning radius make it less than ideal for serious off-roading.

The five-link rear suspension has coil springs, the same as the Suburban, and the ride is quite pleasant for a big rig. More so than many pickups. Four hours on the highway was not at all unpleasant. The brakes are disc on all four wheels, with anti-lock and front-rear proportioning standard.

Price
The base price of our four-wheel-drive test vehicle was $33,965. Options included six-way power bucket seats with leather trim, the Z-71 off-road package of skid plates and upgraded shock absorbers, 17-inch alloy wheels, automatic climate control and OnStar. The sticker price was $36,963.

Warranty
Three years or 36,000 miles.

Point: The Avalanche is four-wheeled versatility. It has t cabin of an SUV, the bed of a pickup and a removable wall, called a midgate, in between. It rides as comfortably as a Suburban, on whose chassis it is built, yet it hauls like a truck.

Counterpoint: This is a big vehicle to wheel around, so I would choose it only if I made frequent use of its hauling versatility. ThereÕs too much plastic cladding to suit me, and more power would have been welcome when climbing steep hills.

SPECIFICATIONS:
Engine: 5.3-liter V-8
Transmission: automatic Four-wheel drive
Wheelbase: 130 inches
Curb weight: 5,876 lbs.
Base price: $33,965 four-wheel drive
As-driven: $36,963
Mpg rating: 13 city, 17 hwy.
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